Say goodbye to your free time!

Which Games Are You Currently Playing?

After going through Telltale Batman, I decided to try another game. Which was a bit of a dilemma for me. You see, on one hand, quite a few people recommended the story of this game. On the other hand - it's fucking Game of Thrones. And I still haven't red any of the books or watched any of the TV series episodes. And not going to. So, I decided to try it while being a completely clueless about the whole setting except for the motherfucking Winter is Coming meme.

Now, I have no idea how canon is this story, however, this is how it goes: after the fall of previous king (Stark?), northen spheres of influence are brutally divided. And after the ambush at Red Wedding, one minor but noble house - house Forester - loses its lord. Their old enemies Whitehills are favored by the current crown, and they are aiming to take their ironwood trees. And kill them all, actually. So now it's up to the surviving house members to... well, survive this situation.

First of all, here's the usual thing: this is, once again, a telltale game. Meaning, one way or the other, even if you fuck up completely, you will be dragged through the game, kicking and screaming, to the ending. Difference is, you really are kicking and screaming. And also, this time you play as more than one character. Story of the game follows Forester family members (and Gared who is a squire) as they all try to contributy to the survival of the home, in their own ways.

Now, I will take this moment to say, that I really liked the graphic style of that one. They made the game looked just the right amount of... not exactly blurry, but... At times, the imagery feels like it was painted with oil, which is pretty nice to look at. Also, I mostly didn't notice the game music, but the song at the end of a second episode - fucking amazing.
Additionally, Telltale does work towards making more and more mature stories, I feel, and in this one... Well, it is fucking Game of Thrones. To say it is brutal would be the same as to say that I am a mildly grumpy but well-meaning person. There are fucking guts flying around in this fucking game for fuck's sake! For anyone who enjoys some blood - you will love this.

Now, the story is, as always, the most important part. And let me tell you, I never knew anything about GoT setting, but I am pretty sure they got it right. Because in this game, you feel like you are being punished for all your sins at almost every step of the story. Bad choice? Game fucks you up immediately. Hell, you can die at some points, but mostly, after you witness something really horrifying, you realize that the game just keeps going. Towards next wicked event.
That actually makes you feel for the characters quite a bit. You feel sorry for them, you worry for their fates, and you are being genuinely happy when they succeed (or at least do not die immediately). And at the same time, some of the choices, and I will not spoil anything, but some of the choices are completely inhumane. Plus, in addition to main guys, game has really nice cast of supporting characters, including both characters from the series - voices by original actors - and new range of people to interact with.

All in all? This is the usual Telltale game. But the story is one of the most brutal and unforgettable ones I have ever encountered in a game. It is very much justified that they did 6 episodes for the season, instead of the usual 5. And, naturally, they do give a cliffhanger for the possible continuation.

I purposefully haven't spoken about any particular story event, to avoid spoilers in case you would want to play it yourself. Though, I can tell you right now, often, knowing what would happen doesn't save you from the brutality of experience.
And, as always, if you want to just watch someone play it here's the playlist for my attempt full of fail.

I'm feeling some serious love for Horizon Zero Dawn, it's officially my new favorite new gen game. The story is awesome, the graphics are amazing, the gameplay is fantastic, and there are way more creatures in it than I ever thought there'd be. Plenty of things to hunt~

I got sucked into Terraria. Never really looked into it when it came out, but I got into it with a few friends. Felt like exploring it on my own to learn the mechanics better. I'm not sure how I feel about Terraria 2's design. There's a simplicity in the current game that I admire.

This game came out some time ago, but I only recently got around to playing it. This is the 5th installment of Far Cry series, but those games are not really connected to each other, and this one is the most disconnected at all - happening at 10000 years B.C. And this time, instead of a bunch of guns, you are going to fight your way through scores of enemies with nothing but a stone spear.

This is a Ubisoft game, and I feel Ubisoft is getting a bit too fat and lazy for their own good, a bit like EA. They are not really trying anymore. That is why, I have very conflicting feeling about this game. Then again, I might just start with good things. And the best thing about the game is the fact that the guy you play is the Beast Master. He made friends with spirits of animals, and can now get their help in fight. Pretty much, you got owl for scouting, and you can tame all sorts of wild creatures - from honey badger to a huge bear. Having your sabertooth tiger kill enemy and then watch it eat the corpse is very satisfying.

In addition to that, you get a decent range of weapons. You get clubs (and later - 2-handed clubs), which are good for dealing with many enemies at once, you get bow for long-range killing, you got spear for single-target poking, which does the best damage in the game, when thrown. Plus, you get a bunch of bombs, like fire bomb or even bee bomb. And you can set any of your normal weapons on fire. Have you ever wanted to smack someone on the head with a giant burning bone club? You can do it.

Story is simple enough. Main hero - Takkar - searches for the prosperous land of Oros. And finds it, right at the start of the game. But people of his tribe are hunted by other two tribes there. So he mounts the defense against enemies with long-term goal of getting the whole land for his people, while getting help from a bunch of some very weird characters along the way. And their cutscenes, where they give you quests, are as crazy as you can expect from Farcry game.

Now, while all this is well and good, game has some bad qualities. For example, this is open world game, so it makes you do a whole bunch of crafting and resource gathering, and repetitive side-quests and pretty much all you can expect from open world game, trying to extend the gameplay. Story scenes are pretty cool, and well-animated, but most of the game might bore you. Especially, since you can't talk to anyone while you walk around. Remember Farcry 4 and Pagan Min trolling you on the radio? Well, radio will be invented in about 12000 years in this game, so you are alone.

Speaking of. This game has no cool villain. Yeah, you heard it. You got 2 leaders of enemy tribes, but there's almost no interaction with them. You meet them, and then you kill them towards the end of the game. And that's it. The game does concentrate on your allies, and they are some very crazy people, but without cool villain this doesn't feel like Far Cry title. Also, with crafting they also make you kill a lot of animals. Which is what bothered me a little bit, cause I dislike killing many animals in games. And the game, as I said, may feel very repetitive, especially with limited weapon options.

All in all, interesting game, but at times it felt tedious as all fuck. Still, at times it was quite fun, so it all evens out. Ubisoft is getting lazy, though, cause they sure could have given better villains and overall better story.

This one is long. And it took me months to finish it. Because I was not playing it alone, I played it with @Lieutenant. We did not have much time for the game, but damn, that was good time. This is a classical RPG, the kind that is long and full of quests you would never even understand, and entirely too much reading. It also has pretty damn good co-op. You can play it with friends over direct connection, and you get to control one of the 2 main characters each.

The story starts simple. You two are members of the source-hunters order. Source is something like the magic power, but corrupted and twisted, and it is up to you to battle magic users who go mad with that power. Pretty much, you are a fantasy inquisition. And your mission is to go to some remote island, besieged by orcs at the time, to investigate the murder of the local high official. There's a suspicion of foul play, which in this came means he might have been killed by a source magic.
From there... well, let's just say that the story expands beyond all possible expectations.

Game system is pretty complicated. As the start you asked to make a character, picking a class... but that doesn't really mean anything. You can be anything you want to be, if you have stats and skills for it. And I can honestly say, that every warrior will need to know at least some magic, just like any mage would need to stick someone in the face with a sword at some point. Though, mages are more versatile. In addition, there's a boatload of items and scrolls to use, and also traits to give some additional bonuses to your character. During the game you will get to 20-21 level, which will turn you from inexperienced adventurer to a death incarnate.

Game is long. It is, as I said, a classical RPG, which makes for one HUGE grand quest, and a whole load of side-quests. Most of them are pretty elaborate and, at times, very funny. How would you like to help a male cat fuck a mayor's cute female cat by means of finding his fancy collar to woo the lady? Yep, that's how we do... Some of it is very serious, some is very silly, most is both. At times games is goddamn frustrating, though, I can tell you that, and if you missed too much stuff in it... you will get punished at the end by requirement to backtrack. Also, puzzles are pretty hard, and abundant - you really have to read all the things you find to fully realize how everything is working and solved.

Always remember

I suddenly felt I don't have enough platformers in my life, so I got me this game. It is anime-style puzzle platformer, concentrating more on physics based puzzles than on combat. It is made my Japanese game company, so, you know, it's not even anime styled, it is proper anime game, made by proper Japanese people.

Story of the game starts simple. In near future, humanity is suddenly attacked by very advanced robots, that, in 3 years, almost wipe out humanity. People are made to live like rats in hiding or become slaves to new robotic overlords. In that world young girl gets severely hurt, but is taken in by a mad scientist and turned into cyborg with the power to fight the machines. After that she sets out to avenge her world and to discover a mystery of a girl she saw just once when she was captured.

Now, stepping back from the story, let's look at the game play. The whole mechanic of the game is the wrecking ball - a mass of debris covered with nano machines that you can attract and control. It extends your attack, and most enemies require your debris ball to be big enough to smash their shields. Plus, as you go along, you get the ability to turn the wreckage you carry into a sword, cube, javelin of drill - all used to specifically solve the puzzles of the game.
And there are plenty of puzzles! The game is actually really amazing, because you can smash a lot of platforms and enemies, and the pieces they will turn into would be calculated on individual basis for the purposes of physical interaction. What it means is that you can make any level very messy very quickly. And I managed to cheat my way through a few puzzles just by having random pieces of robots just lying around.
Mostly, though, puzzles have very clear solutions to them - if you follow the required pattern, things will just get into place. The hard part is to figure out what needs to be done, and use the correct instruments for it.

In addition to puzzles, there is combat, obviously. Some enemies are being part of the puzzle - you kill them in order, to increase the debris you carry, to be able to kill stronger enemies in the room, some are just there to hinder your progress. And, of course, there are bosses. Technically, there game has only 5 boss battles, 3 of which are repeated through the story, making it 8 boss fights total. The core of each battle is to slowly smash what is provided, turning enemy weapons into your ammo, until you finally can break through the boss shield.

Since this is anime game, all bosses look like young girls. Actually, I will go and put a major spoiler out there - the only guy character in the game is the mad scientist. All the rest of the cast are female, even if they are in robotic form. Enjoy! But the character design is actually good - bosses look diverse, and each got their own mechanics, which you learn, or you die very quickly. Though, during the game you get experience that you use to get some more health and passive regeneration, and that really helps with survival.

From the technical point of view - game got all you need. It's relatively hard, puzzles are clever, enemies are varied enough, and it's not overly long. But to add to all that, there is actually a very big storyline there too. During the game you will learn the origin of robots, and will be involved in quite a few existential conversations. I have to say, game is Japanese, and they really did not do well on English translation. I mean, you can understand the phrases, but the wording is often far from good.
Still, if you manage to look past that, game takes on some heavy themes. There's the questions of identity, the questions of morals, suicide, greater good and/or bad. There's also time travel. Yep. Which, as it often is with time travel, makes the story somewhat illogical at times, but since it's anime style, you kinda let it slide.
And finally, game at times offers some very disturbing visuals, but hides it well. After you defeat the boss (looking like some girl, let me remind you), you get a picture of her beaten and leaking nano-machines from the holes in her body. Well, imagine if instead of robot you would get a human girl image like that? And the stuff leaking out of her body would have been red? That would have been some heavy imagery, but developers cleverly hid that behind a self-censoring of sorts. Still, you also get some bloody stuff with actual humans, so... for anime game, this one gets pretty dark at times.

All in all? This is familiar concept, but very well performed. Puzzles are good, story is good if you won't get discouraged by sloppy English. Difficulty is just right to frustrate you at times, but not enough to make you give up and quit. Good game in my book.

I have a PS4 now so I've been playing a few games. (Sorry I can't link any images, my laptop broke so I'm on my tablet.)

I've been playing God Eater Rage Burst, it's like a more fast paced Monster Hunter. It's pretty fun, the combat takes to getting used to because it's so fast paced. The craft system is fun too, there's a lot of weapons to choose from. And honestly the character customization is fun too, I spent too long on my character ahahaha.

I've also been playing Tales of Zesteria. It's my first Tales of game so I can't comment too much on how it improves stuff from previous games, but it's really fun. I like it a lot, the characters are fun and the plot is pretty good too. Gameplay is typical action JRPG, but it's fun to switch between characters.

This is a quest. Quest based on, or rather inspired by Haruki Murakami’s surreal short stories. Which I have never red, so I have no idea how good this is to the source material, or how good this is even as a tribute. However, one thing is undeniable - this is one of the most weird stories I have ever played through.

In this game you play as Miss Mizuki - girl in her twenties, who is divorced, on a break from work, and tends to occasionally forget her own name, which retaining pretty damn good memory for trivia facts. She wants to cure herself of this condition. Also, recently she hasn't been able to sleep for something like 17 days, all because every time she tries to sleep, she sees a horrible old midget sailor captain (who is also half-naked and smoking), who never lets her sleep. You are welcome to let your imagination run wild with that description. So, with those 2 minor life problems, she sets out on a day destined to fix at least something.

Now, let's take a break from this weird image, and talk gameplay. This game is pretty much your 2D drawn quest and it plays how you would expect it to play - nothing out of ordinary. You visit locations, you get items, you combine items, you solve occasional puzzle. Gameplay is simple, it holds well, you don't expect anything new to this formula. And it's good - simplicity ensures stability. Though, I will be honest with you - I did find one game-breaking bug. Thankfully, game allows you to make a lot of saves, so you won't be lost.

Saying all that, behind simplicity there's also some complexity. First of all, game is almost without logic in the way you use your items. It's plainly evil - the craziest things work and the logical things don't. That's the kind of world we live in there. Additionally, as you unlock new locations while progressing the story, at time progressing the story also changes the old locations, making new people and things and people-things appear. So you will surely revisit old places quite a bit. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it gives decent complexity to the game.

Main thing of this game remains the... You know, I want to say 'story', but the story is so bizarre, I cannot even describe it properly. I would say that this game shows you absolutely strange world, where weird science and magic exist in what, at first glance, looks like a world not unlike ours. And that what makes it really cool - you hang out in places that make sense, and then something absolutely crazy happens. And it just never stops, there is no single point without some weirdness in it. And, again, I have no idea how true it is to the works that inspired the game, but goddamnit, this was weird and I loved it.

This is a game for those who always wished to die somewhere in the frozen ass of the Canada. Well, okay, maybe not, but it is pretty close to that. Kona is exploration game, is in an indie game, made possible by kickstarter backing. Obviously, this game is rather humble, but it tries to present us a story and a mechanics of survival in the wilderness.

You are Carl. You are detective, hired by some Canadian rich guy to investigate some vandalism cases. As you arrive, you find your employer dead (minor spoiler, but that is the very start of the game) and yourself trapped in the horrible blizzard. And there is noone around, so it is now up to you to explore this small province and find out what the fuck have happened here.

To be honest, at first the game totally fucks you, cause you have no idea where to go and what to do. Nobody tells you. I mean, there is a narrator, who constantly comments on Carl's actions, but he is not always helpful at all. However, as you get used to the game, you start exploring. You don't really meet people, but you get to know them through their stuff, and that eventually uncovers the main plot. Along with some interesting facts about the locals. The game is set in 1970, so there are some nice themes there like aliens, soviet menace, and even Canadian secret service.
The main plot itself is alright, though in the end, you get more interested by the small details of your exploration, than by the main theme. Then again, as you go along, it gets more prevalent, and you just can't ignore the... no, I will not tell. The game actually spoils you pretty early on, but I won't be telling you what it's all about. I will say that a few times game was really misleading about what the main twist would be.

Technically, game looks okay. And there's a disturbing music playing at the right moments. This is not AAA game, but it holds its own for indie title. Though, at times it does feel slow (especially when you fight wolves) and outdated. One of my big disappointments was the fact that the game is this one huge map, so it acts like it's open world... and yet, there are loading times between distinct areas, which really ruins the general immersion.
Survival mechanics are there. Outside it's cold as fuck, so you are freezing your balls off, unless you come across a place where you can set up a fire. So you will collect logs, matches and fire-starters. You also collect tools and weapons. And consumables like first aid kits, cigarettes and beer. You basically have 3 indicators that show how healthy you are, how cold you are and how stressed you are, and you would do well to keep all of them high enough. I'd say, the survival element is not too prevalent, it never really becomes a serious bother, but it does keep you alert, so it was nice addition to the cold atmosphere.

All in all, this is a game that positions itself as a thriller, but is much more of a relaxed exploration game most of the time. If you just want to take a break and look through other people's stuff - it's for you. Also, if you want to see a lot of blunders made by a guy called Carl - it's also very much for you.

As always, here's my playlist where I help narrator to comment on how poorly Carl is doing.

After numerous delays, I can safely say Persona 5 was well worth the wait. I currently have over 25 hours in the game, and nowhere near done!, and I'm having a blast. I've never had this much fun with a game before, it's to the point where I can play it for 4 hours straight without getting bored of it. Which is really rare for me, I have to take breaks with games ahahah.

The story is really good for a JRPG, it feels very grounded for one. Besides the Personas and superhero stuff, the rest of it deals with abuse, sexual harassment, and just shitty adults in general. I cannot praise the game enough for having such a different take for a JRPG, it's so refreshing.

I adore all the characters so far, except the enemy's which you are supposed to hate. Yusuke is a national treasure and even the protag is great, very relatable in a weird way.

The graphics are amazing, the city feels so lived in and real in a way. The characters and Personas are rendered very well. The UI is the best I have ever seen in a video game, I'm not even kidding I spent 4 minutes messing around with it. It's so pleasing and interactive and stylish, looks exactly like it came from a comic book. The music is also really good, it's refreshing to have jazz in a video game and it certainly has it. Very calming, and relaxing OST over all, then again Meguro is among the best video game composers in my mind. To go from techno, to rock, to pop, to jazz.... wow.

I still have a lot of game to cover, but I figured that I almost have 30 hours in the game it should be fair to judge it. The game is averge 110+ hours from what I've read, whew. I really, really like it so far though I can't put it down, it really is the best Persona game and what I wanted when it was originally announced in 2011.

This is a pure nostalgia shoutout for the 80-ies, and it's both good, bad, cheesy and classy at the same time. In essence, it is a time management game - you have the same street to patrol each day, you got your parking tickets quota, and perhaps some other task, and it's up to you how you would spend the day and whether you would help local citizens or even local crime groups. Also, bribes. You take a lot of them.

Story is simple. You are a detective, who responded to a break-in call at the senator's house. You intervene, but one of the perps is off with the contents of the senator's safe. You are suspected in foul play, and so you get demotion to a lowly beat cop. Sucks to be you, yes. Then again, your former chief hints, that you might get your detective badge back. You just have to get back the senator's diamonds. However, later it turns out, diamonds are the least of it...

Gameplay is simple. You walk around, you write tickets to offenders or take their bribes (it is an option at times). In time you will easily learn to notice offenders without even checking, so that part is easy. You will meet and learn all the people on the street, including all the shop owners and 2 local crime groups - mafia and crew, who will offer you quests for money and reputation. Generally, you will try to keep your reputation high enough with all the groups to not get bumped off. Along the daily quests and events, you will slowly work on the main storyline, involving the senator and his stuff. And that is some hot stuff he has...

Best thing about the game is style. It is a nostalgic shoutout to the 80-ies cop shows, and it is damn good. You get to show Russian around, you answer movies trivia, you hunt of heroin, you prevent weird cults, roaches and bombings and even look for lost cats. If you ever wanted to be the cop from the shows - this is your dream coming true. Also, even though the style of the game is simple, characters are pretty well thought out, so by the end of the game, you will surely have your own opinion about each of them, from your dear sergeant, motivating you to fuck off to the street every day, to the bum who will give you information for 5 bucks.
Also, I will just go ahead and say it, the game is racist as fuck, in a humorous way. Shop owners represent quite a few nationalities (there's even a Polak there), there's a whole black gang in the area (who would at time ask you to deal with 'other niggers'), and there's even arabs doing the whole terrorist thing. So yeah, in the age of tolerance, this game is nice a breath of fresh air in how incorrect it is.

One bad thing is actually technical side of the game. Glitches. There are some. You can bug the game out by just clicking mouse too fast at the start of the day. You can get stuck with unskippable events (which robbed me of ending choices actually, so yeah, that sucked). Some event may initiate weirdly and without you even being there... That can seriously ruin the experience, and it does, actually. I am unhappy about the glitch that fucked up the last game day for me.

So yeah, this game sure could have been made better, but I did have a lot of fun with the characters, at least.

So. Horror... this one felt pretty much like The Horror Game of the year, cause it was descendant of the Outlast 1, which was pretty damn great and scary, and expectations were high. And developers tried to meet those. With the usual gameplay of night-vision camera and hiding from everything, they tried to create huge story and more intricate locations than there were in the first game.

You are... no, you are not a journalist. Your wife is a journalist and you are her cameraman. You are following a story of a young woman murdered by some strange means and washed down the river. You hider a helicopter to explore the area in hopes of finding, where that woman could have floated from. Which is somewhere in forest-rich parts of Arizona. Along the way your helicopter crashes, and, even though you and your wife survive, turns up, you actually at the right place. Which is very very very bad for you.
Oh, and also you are haunted by your past. Like, seriously fucking haunted.

What can I say... I really feel like this game tried its best to just plainly disgust you at some points. And holy fuck, they do their job well. Gruesome imagery and even very creepy and uncomfortable imagery is ever-present. Along with some very touchy themes. We fuck about with religion, birth, diseases, child molestation and disfigurement. Which is actually pretty neat, cause you just see how much recreational drugs was poured into imagining all this.
Problem is, game concentrates so much on the grotesque imagery, it totally loses the sense of reality and logic and even... resolution, I guess? I mean, sure, main character is obviously going mad along the way. But even though the game story escalates with our arrival to the area, it always feels like I am just a passive observer. And not only because I have a camera. I am just shown a lot of weird shit, and all I get is the feeling of complete inaptitude. Which is probably what the story goes for, especially considering the ending of the nightmare sequences. But it makes you want more...

Gameplay is simple enough. You walk around, you get jump=scared, you lose your shit and either run away from danger or hide. All in all, it is more of a cinematic experience, than gameplay one. At times you start hallucinating about your horrors-ridden past, turning game to the dream-like sequences, where you meat the monster, and then you go back to the real world, and try to escape the people who are worse than monsters. It's nice.
Again, however, I believe, too much emphasis was put on cinematic experience. There are not that many jump-scares. And yes, that coming from me, who hates those things. But really, the game could have more of those. And at the same time, there are not many sequences where you really have to hide carefully, changing hiding places. I mean, most of 'hiding' parts Ibeat by just siting in one place and then quickly running to the exit.

The story... it's grand, for sure, but it is so messed up and detached from logic, that you can't feel serious about it at all. And the game feels very uneven. It's split into 6 chapters, but more than 1 half of the game you would spend in the 1st chapter, after which you are rushed through the final 4. Chapter 2 is pretty great, though, and I seriously loved being there and abused in all sort of funny disease-ridden ways. Seriously, good times. I'd say, if all of the game was more like chapter 2, this would have been a masterpiece. Instead chapter 1 is just about understanding your surroundings, and it's too long, and chapters 3-6 just rush you through the story enforcing the feeling of passive observation.

All in all? Compared to Outlast 1, it can't hold its own. Outside of it? The gameplay is solid in not too easy. Graphics are good, and the imagery is absolutely fucked up, which is a serious plus. Same goes for story - the amount of fucked-upness is just superb. Logic and reason? No, leave those things outside please. And, for horror game, it's not scary, meaning it would disappoint those who actually enjoy getting that jump-scare rush. Still, funny experience in total.

This is a game about a Slugcat, trying to survive in a harsh and unpredictable environment, under the stress of constant rain. And you have no idea about any of that.
Rain World is an indie platformer game with heavy emphasis on visual storytelling style, difficulty and survival. You are offered to be a small creature, which is not entirely helpless, but which is very very tasty to all the local predators. And you must embark on a journey of discovery. And dangers. And a lot of food. Seriously, food is important.

The story of the game is hidden. What you know from the start is that you are in some post-apocalyptic world where all humans died, leaving their structures behind, and all creatures evolved to survive in polluted environments. For example, you, as slugcat, are nimble as a cat, but you are soft, as a slug, and you can travel inside the narrowest of pipes. It's a survival skill.
At the start of the game you are separated from your slugcat tribe, and you set out on a journey through the local areas. Actually, you don't find many storyline events throughout the game, and telling about any of them would be a spoiler. But you do eventually get a sense of purpose that is bigger than your initial search.
However, under all this, there is hidden the story of the world itself, and that it pretty damn interesting. There is a way - through a lot of work, really - to get very direct texted info about what the hell it is all about. I only got a part of that so far.

Gameplay consists of survival. And more survival. You have 7 food 'nodes' which you must feel by finding and eating the local food - fruits, moths, small centipedes, whatever. When you get 4 nodes, you can find a safe spot, where you hibernate, getting a new 'level'. There is limited number of levels, but the gates between the game areas at times require you to be pretty 'leveled-up', which is not easy.
Because most things want to eat you. A fuckton of crocodile-like dragons, giant vultures, big centipedes, some fucking tentacle monsters... even the leaches in the water. There is intirely too many things that can kill you. And to add to all this - you are pressed for time. If you spend too much time outside of safe spot, the Rain will start and it will wash you away. Oh, and if you hide from rain without having at least 4 pieces of food in your belly, you will starve while waiting the rain out. It's that brutal kind of a game.

Mechanics of the game are simple, but curious. Basically, you jump, run, grab items and either eat them or throw them at enemies. Spear can kill, but it can also get stuck in the wall, making a ledge to go up. At times you will have problems with controls, but generally they are simple enough. Same is with graphics and music - it's simple, but it works well. Pixelated areas might seem retro, but there's a great amount of detail there. Music is rare, but when it plays - you will notice it, which already says something. There are some inescapable places, and I managed to crash the game a few times, but all in all it runs pretty smoothly.

The main thing about this game is exploring and understanding the world. At first you will be completely baffled, but as you go along... you will actually get even more baffled. By the end of the game, and even after completing the game, I never stopped being amazed by new discoveries. Playing this, you will learn how other creatures behave, you will learn about local plants and insects, about how to travel above and under water properly, about computers and seaweed, and different types of food. While the game is separated into areas, which in turn separated into 'screens', all this feels like a pretty seamless open-world experience, where you don't even have to go to the end - you can just stay and live there.

This is one of the rare games that are completely their own thing. It is hard, frustrating at times, but it's harsh in the same way as nature is harsh. Ending to this baffles me even now. And after the ending I can honestly say that I barely scratched the surface of this game, while spending almost 20 hours playing it. Honestly, this is probably the most unforgettable and unique game I have played in years.

Even after watching this, I honestly want more of it. Best game ever. It feels like some sort of slugcat life documentary and at the same time unconsciously finding the cause of the extinction of humanity. Pretty interesting story in itself.

Without having anything to play, I decided to get a very small puzzle game. Quite honestly, it's just 1.5 hours long, and it would be better to sum up the gameplay with a video.

You play as - surprise! - an old man, who received a letter and set off on a journey over many hills and islands. Game is controlled by mouse only, and the main point of gameplay is moving the shape of the landscape to progress further. Which is really nothing hard, but it is curious concept, so it grabs you for the duration of the game.

The game - while being completely silent - is pretty heavy on the story. There are about 15 'stages' to it, and they got places when you sit and rest. Because you are old. And, while resting, you remember you life, and how you ended up being so old and so alone. To be honest, it's not tied too much with the gameplay process itself, but it's alright for a storytelling purpose.

I will mention art and music specifically. Obviously, as the game is about moving the landscape, that landscape should be present. And it is. Locations are well-drawn, and generally the game looks very pastoral and relaxing. And the music helps in a big way. As I told, game is really short, but it has some pretty good music, that fits well with the stages, and you really do notice it, in a good way.

All in all, it was really relaxing experience for an hour and a half. Short, but satisfying.

Just finished another 8-9 hour shift that saw me through the Heavensward Main Scenario Questline and then spent a few more hours racing Chocobos, gambling and raiding the Palace of the Dead. Tomorrow's gonna be the start to As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness and the rest of the patch MSQ content so I am ready for Stormblood in 10 days.

So, right away - this is from the same guys who did Bayonetta game. Only this time they decided to do the manliest game they could. And sci-fi. With giant robots. Seriously, this game was created by latinumGames right after Bayonetta, went to consoles back in 2010, and only now we - the PC people - got it too. Then again, we got it in higher res and better frame rate, so there.

Suddenly future. After successful coup in Russia, some cyber-freak takes control over the whole space colony/station on the Earth orbit. Problem is, that colony also equipped with a giant fucking microwave laser, so the whole thing acts like your basic Low Orbit Ion Cannon. After wiping out all of the San-Francisco, Russians threaten to fuck up New-York next, but the cannon needs time to recharge, so the US marines space fleet is sent to deal with the problem. After epic space battle, one of the ships is inside the station and, breaking initial enemy robotic defenses, marines get to work. However, they also have in their ranks a DARPA representative, sporting the brand new combat suit, and he has 2 secret missions - find and save the professor, who is held hostage, and to find the traitor within the ranks of the US...

Oh, and all that? That's just the first game cut-scene.

This is the fast-paced shooter. And when I say 'fast-paced', I really mean it. You have rocket boosters inside your armor, you can do some really cool stuff, but you overheat. Additionally, you can also go into slow motion mode. Which really overpowers you. But yes, you guessed it, you overheat. Basically, you spend enough time behind covers in this game, but it is really good to go out of there for a bit and do some real damage. Plus, some enemies' attacks are so massive, you must boost from cover to cover.

And enemies are numerous. Core enemy force consists of humanoid robots, of which there are several types - normal, commander, sniper and assault. Next enemies are also humanoid, but they are freaking huge, and they vary based on loadout - from giant missile guys to robots armed with clubs bigger than normal people. And that's just the common enemies. You will also meet all sorts of transformers, some of those - really gigantic. And the Russian leader, of course, who sports the suit similar to your own. By the end of the game, the enemies get a little repetitive, but trust me, you still won't be bored.

And game really works on not letting you be bored. Almost throughout all the game you will gave a regiment of marines with you, who will actively participate in the battle - they aren't there just for show, they fight well, get wounded and die if you don't help. Obviously, with you being the main hero, they are being the extras, but here's the thing - enemy force is scaled to fight you and them, meaning, at any time there's much more firepower on the field than if this would have been just the game with you having no allies. Meaning, you can easily get killed. And, also, which is much cooler - this means that each level feels like a massive battle, and I can tell you, with amount of shit blowing up, it's just a great fun to play.

Game story is very simplistic, actually. I gave you the starting plot, and there's the ending twists, but from start to finish you mostly just go ahead and shoot stuff while traveling at great speed. Story is rather silly even, and it is so on purpose, the game shows that it's just a fun pastime that should not be taken overly-seriously.

So, all in all? 5 hours of pure joy. I actually played it on easy, so I just relaxed and enjoyed a fuckton of pretty explosions. But on harder levels? Game gives you pretty detailed statistic after each level, and you can try to perfect that, and you will have a lot of hard times, dodging enemy fire while trying to not overheat too much. So the experience can be really intense.